How They REALLY Met
by furuba-suzume
Summary: A written and hopefully more detailed version on how Tohru, Kyo, and Yuki really met. Similar to the manga.


**A/N: **I know I haven't updated my other story yet, but I just wanted to post this one up because...well...I was bored. -_-'' I wrote it a long time ago, but I kept forgetting to post it up. I'll just post it up now then. :P

Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own Fruits Basket.

**How They **_**Actually **_**Met**

**Kyo and Kyoko**

Kyo Sohma didn't know where to go. Shishou, his sensei, who is now his recent and current guardian, told him to go straight home after school. But Kyo wasn't comfortable with having someone actually care for him yet, and he didn't want to be alone with him so soon either, so he walked down the road slowly to take his time. He gave up on walking after a while and sat down on a low wall near the sidewalk. He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice someone approach him.

"Orange…" the person muttered to herself, making Kyo jump and look up at the stranger. It was a young woman with orange hair, just like his. "So young, yet you have orange hair. Real...is it real?" She stared at him curiously.

"WH-what are you talking about, you old hag?" he said rudely. "Go away! I'll kill you if you don't leave me alone!"

The lady's eyes grew wide, but not because she was offended or anything. Instead, she made a crooning sound and said, "Aww! You're so cute!"

Kyo blinked. He didn't expect a response like that. "GO AWAY! I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted, as though he thought that the lady didn't hear or understand him.

But the lady just laughed and said, "CU~UTE!" Kyo fumed at that and became silent.

She laughed again and smiled at him. "You are just so _cute_! You should be more careful, you know. You're so cute that someone might take you away. Won't your mother be worried?"

Kyo looked away, a distant expression on his face. "No need to worry about her. She's dead." He said it in such a way that the lady immediately became concerned.

"What about your dad?"

Kyo now looked angry, and he sounded it to as he growled, "That guy…that guy wishes that _I_ was dead. He doesn't care about me at all." He winced when he realized that his voice cracked near the end.

The lady now looked at him with pity in her eyes. She moved closer to sit down next to him and said, "That…must be so lonely." The small boy looked up at her, blank shock in his eyes. Not much people pitied the "cat"…

He shook his head, trying to erase the thoughts he was about think. Instead, he tried to break the awkward silence by asking, "What about _your _hair?" He gestured at her hair, finally noticing that it was the same odd colored hair as his. "Is yours real?"

She pretended to act offended. "How rude! It's dyed!" The boy didn't have much to say after that, so she introduced herself. "My name is Kyoko Honda. What's yours?"

Kyo was taken aback. Kyoko Honda…Kyo Sohma…the similarity of their names unnerved him, especially with the fact that they had the same hair color. So he just stuttered, "N-none of b-business!" but this time, he felt a little bad for being rude. After, Kyoko Honda was one of the few people who have been nice to him, despite the fact that she doesn't know about the secret…

"That's okay," Kyoko said happily. "I'll just call you…Jari!"

Kyo raised an eyebrow. "What's Jari? And why that name?" he asked.

Kyoko shrugged. "Jari is…Jari. And besides," she put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair so suddenly that he didn't have time to move away, "it's perfect for someone as small and _cute _as you!" She smiled warmly at him, leaving him a little bit speechless with mixed feelings.

Later on, after talking a bit more with Kyoko, he went home, thinking that Shishou was going to give him a scolding for not coming straight home. But he was just in time for dinner, and Shishou did no such thing. In fact, dinner was so quiet that it unnerved Kyo.

"Um…" he started to say, trying to break the silence, "I met someone today."

Shishou looked up curiously. "Oh? Is that so?"

Kyo felt relieved that he wasn't mad, so he continued on. "Yeah. She's a lady that I just met on the street. I didn't know her or anything, but we talked to each other. It's not like she's my friend, but we talked." He looked at Shishou, as if asking if such an encounter like that was okay.

But Shishou just smiled. "Well, for someone who isn't your friend, she sure sounds like a friend." Kyo laughed, and they began to talk about the strange yet friendly lady some more.

Just a couple of days after the two met, Kyo (or Jari) and Kyoko met again. It turned out that the walk from Kyo's school to his house crosses path with Kyoko's house. Whenever they met, she would call out "Hey, Jari-brat! Get over here!" and tell him everything about her. How she was a gang leader when she was in her teens, how she drastically changed into a doting yet very young mother when fell in love and married her teacher, how she nearly killed herself when her husband died of pneumonia (Kyo looked a bit shock by these, but he tried to hide it), and how she came out of that depression by remembering something worth living for, her treasure…

"Treasure?" Kyo asked skeptically when Kyoko told him about it. He didn't think of her as the money-loving type.

She nodded enthusiastically. "Duh! Haven't you been listening, Jari?" Her face suddenly lit up. "Oh! Wait! I have pictures!" She started rummaging around her purse, trying to find the small pictures of her "treasure". When she found it, she proudly gave one to him to see. "There! See? That's my treasure…my cute, little Tohru…"

It was a picture of a girl, around Kyo's age. Her hair was short and brown, and there was a little bauble in it. She wore a pink shirt with a light-blue short skirt and flip-flops. She was giving a big smile to the camera. _She looks so happy, _he thought. _But…she also seems…lonely…? _

He then looked up at the mother of this child, who was looking at the picture with so much love in her face. She didn't seem to see anything wrong with how her daughter looked. But Kyo recognized it. Even though he began to feel happy for the first time when he started living with Shishou, he would look in the mirror and the truth came out. He seemed happy on the outside, but his eyes showed loneliness that only those who have ever felt it can recognize. And he saw it in Tohru Honda's eyes.

Kyoko started showing him more pictures of Tohru. He came to a conclusion.

_Oh yeah, _he thought. _She's definitely lonely._

All of a sudden, he started thinking about her. Does she always act like she's happy in front of Kyoko? Is she hiding something? Is someone making her feel that way? Does she laugh sometimes? How does her laugh sound like? How does her voice sound like? Does she remember her father? How does it feel to be loved by a real parent?

_Can I talk to her someday?_

A few days later, he was still wondering about her. Sometimes he would secretly follow Kyoko home, just to see Tohru. It's not like he was obsessed with her and stalking her. He was too young for that. He was just curious.

[ Note: Once, Tohru's grandpa found him behind some bushes. He invited Kyo into their house, but Kyo just turned and ran. He didn't worry much though. Kyoko told Kyo about Gramps (she called him that so he started calling him that), and she said he had a terrible memory.]

When he saw Tohru, he felt happy. She really _was_ happy. She always smiled and laughed whenever she was with Kyoko, and they would play together until they got so tired they could barely move. But even then, Tohru would be smiling. Kyo never saw her for one moment when she wasn't happy; it made him think that he was probably mistaken when he saw that she was a bit lonely.

But then, when he sometimes got lucky and saw her closer, there was always something in her eyes that made him feel concerned and protective over her.

One day after school when Kyo was walking down the road to meet Kyoko again, he noticed something was wrong. She was standing outside her house, frantically pacing back and forth and looking around, as if trying to find something. There were also tears in her eyes. When she finally noticed Kyo, she hurried over to him.

"Jari!" she cried out as she reached him and knelt down in from of him. "It's Tohru! She didn't come home yesterday! Oh Jari, what could've happened to her? She's so nice, she probably talks to strangers! Someone could've taken her! I mean, who wouldn't take her? She's too cute to be walking home alone!" She moaned and put her head in her hands.

Kyo suddenly felt very uncomfortable. For one thing, he was worried like Kyoko that Tohru was missing. But that wasn't all; he wasn't used to seeing a grown person crying in agony like that. It was simply unbearable.

"SNAP OUT OF IT!" he shouted at her, and she was so shocked that she became quiet and looked up at him. "STOP CRYING! CRYING WON'T FIND TOHRU!" When he said her name, Kyoko's eyes began to fill with tears again, but she kept quiet. "**I'LL** FIND HER, ALRIGHT! I PROMISE! I PROMISE THAT WHEN I FIND HER, I'LL TAKE CARE OF HER AND KEEP HER SAFE UNTIL I BRING HER HOME, OKAY! I PROMISE AS A _**MAN!**__**"**_

Kyoko looked up at the little boy. He had just made a big promise, something most parents wouldn't have believed from such a young boy. But when she looked in his eyes, she knew he was telling the truth.

She picked up her hand and stuck out her pinky. At first, Kyo just stared at it. Then, with a serious expression on his face, he stuck out his own pinky and entwined it with hers.

Then he was off.

**Yuki**

Yuki Sohma was sitting next to Akito Sohma as they watched the rest of the zodiac members, just like he always has since they were first introduced to each other. In fact, Yuki practically belonged to Akito. His parents kind of sold him away. And even though he was always with his one and only playmate, he was lonely. Lonely…and desperate.

Everyday Akito would take Yuki away to a small, dark room, and he would do such bad things to the "rat". Akito always had a whip with him, and he hit Yuki with it while he told him evil lies.

Yuki, at the moment, was thinking of a time when Akito did such things, just a few hours earlier.

"_You think you can be saved?" Akito had sneered as he walked towards the cowering boy, grinning as he flinched when he whipped his weapon on the floor. "Keep dreaming! You are the rat, the disgusting little rodent! You think people would actually befriend a filthy thing like you?" Yuki began to tremble and whimper. He tried to cover his face to block himself from the blows._

_Suddenly, Akito knelt down beside him and spoke in a sickly sweet voice. "But I'm here," he crooned, "and I'll be your friend…your only friend. No one can interfere with us." _

_He stood up as suddenly as before and became hostile once more. "We are the same, Yuki. We live in black worlds…just you and me." He cocked his head to one side. "But you don't seem to accept the truth yet." He made a little evil, yet somehow cute, grin. "I guess I'll have to beat it into you." _

_Yuki coughed, and for some reason, that made Akito angrier. He pulled back the whip and the poor rat's hell began once more._

_Later, after the beating, Yuki had had enough. He was going around the house, searching for the one person who would make it all better. When he found her, he felt so relieved. "Mom…" he called out to her, trying to catch up with her quick walking. "Mom! MOM!" When he got close to her, and she finally noticed him, her eyes grew wide with shock and…something else. _

_Then she slapped him right in the face._

_Yuki stumbled backwards and fell down. He just stared at her, too shocked to say, think, or do anything. _

"_CAN YOU AT LEAST ACT NORMAL!" she yelled at him, moving away as quickly as possible. "HAVEN'T YOU DISGRACED ME AND YOUR FATHER ENOUGH ALREADY!" She was nearly running when she left._

_New tears formed in Yuki's eyes. He finally realized what was in his mother's eyes. It was disgust._

The memory of it started to make him have a small coughing fit. He tried to lower it down, but Akito noticed. _"I thought I warned you to stop that_!" he growled. The coughs suddenly stopped. He tried to distract himself by watching the "rabbit", Momiji Sohma, shout something in German. The noise irritated Kyo so he yelled at the little German.

Yuki wished he was part of the conversation. Akito noticed his staring, and leaned toward him to whisper, "Don't even think about it Yuki. You can _never _be friends with them. They all hate you, especially Kyo, that filthy cat. Even Hatsuharu, the ox, despises you for being the rat. Because of you, he is the laughing stock of the family. After all, according to the legend, the rat _did _trick the cat and ox." He said this in a light, conversational tone.

Yuki had heard all of this before, but it still made him feel bad. None of the others spoke to him. Instead, they act as if he wasn't there. Sometimes, one of them would glance up at him, but when they do, he wishes they hadn't looked. In their eyes was indifference, as if he was nothing at all. And the part that had hurt the most was that they hated him just because he was the rat. But there was nothing he could do about it. He was born that way.

Akito grinned victoriously as he saw Yuki feeling worse and worse by the second. Then he said, "You must've noticed at some point. I mean, not even your own _brother _wants to talk to you! You really are nothing to him."

His head snapped up and looked at Akito. "Brother?" he mouthed silently. Then he thought: _I have a brother?_

Akito's grin grew. "That's right," he said in that sickly sweet voice of his. "Can't you even recognize him? You two could be twins!" He gestured towards where Shigure Sohma and Hatori Sohma sat. He did look a bit like Yuki, but he had longer silver hair and obviously had a much more "colorful" personality, based on how loud he was getting. He was around the other boys' age. They all looked like close friends. Yuki saw him sometimes, but he never actually knew he was his brother…

"His name is Ayame Sohma. Try and talk to him later," Akito said. Yuki eyed him warily at first. His suspicions were confirmed when he continued by saying, "But I hope you don't expect anything out of it. You're nothing to him. He's living the good life, and you're sick and miserable. He barely knows you exist." He grinned again and turned away to see Kagura Sohma hug Kyo tight, so he doesn't hit Momiji, until he looked like he couldn't breathe.

Yuki didn't care what he said. He was only thinking of one thing; he had a brother. He had someone to save him from this horrible life he was living in. He could finally be _saved! _

When everyone started to leave, Yuki stayed behind, watching everyone step out. When he finally saw the person he was looking for, he got up and quickly followed him. He was soon close enough to touch. His heart was beating fast as he started to put out his hand, trying to grab Ayame's shirt, trying to call him and talk to him…and he touched him.

The older boy felt it. When he turned around and saw Yuki's small, trembling hand, holding on to his shirt.

Then he simply made a disgusted look, shrugged the hand off, and quickly walked away, almost breaking into a run. A run away from a helpless little boy…just like their mother had done just a few hours earlier.

Yuki was shocked. Tears formed in his eyes. The part of his hand that touched Ayame's shirt stung, as well as something else. He moved that hand, trying to find the stinging pain. His hand stopped at his chest. It was his heart.

After what had happened between the two brothers, Yuki gave up on hope. He finally gave in to Akito's words. He was useless. No one needed him. No one loved him. No one cared for him. His world was a world so dark; no one would dare join him. Akito was his only friend.

There was even one day when he was feeling so down that he felt like he was gonna die right there and then. He sat on an armchair, thinking of how useless he was. He felt even worse since he just had one of his worst asthma attacks yet. He was still coughing hard.

Akito had gone in earlier to check him. He asked coldly, "Are you going to die, Yuki?" No answer. He smiled. "What a pitiful way to die, Yuki." There was still no reply. He shrugged. "Oh well. I guess I'll just have to find another playmate. Or maybe if you die, another rat will be born. It _has _to. Everyone else is here." He happily walked out of the room.

What Akito had said really hit Yuki. He didn't want to die. He wanted to _live._ But he didn't want to have to listen to those evil whispers all his life either. He wanted to _be somebody._

So he decided to run away.

He quickly changed into more appropriate clothes, something he could really run in. Then, just when he was about to go out the door, something caught his attention.

It was a hat. It was a hat that he had gotten from Kyo. Well, not personally. The hat had flown away from Kyo, and he had picked it up. But when the orange-haired boy found it in the hands of the rat, he turned away disgustedly and shouted out, "Forget about it, Shishou. It landed on something hideous." The moment really had hurt him. He was just trying to help.

He then grabbed the hat and got a small mirror that was nearby. Even in the heat of such an important moment, he couldn't help but notice that the hat didn't match him.

He simply laughed and ran out the door, feeling freer than he had ever felt before.

**Tohru: How She Went Missing**

Tohru Honda was walking home from school, smiling, skipping and humming to herself. She looked so cute in her outfit and pink baubles in her hair. People would look at her and say, "What a perky little kid!"

But she was actually hurting inside. Today was another day where all the kids in her class teased her again. One of her classmates saw her first in the morning and shouted, "Look! There's the onigiri!" The others heard and laughed. Even kids from other classes started calling her that, just because it was "fun" to them. But for some reason, her classmates suddenly started to ignore her. She heard one girl ask another, "Why are we ignoring her now?" The other replied, "She's an onigiri. She can't talk, so we're pretending that she's not there." That hurt Tohru the most.

They called her "onigiri" just because of some game they before played. A game called "Fruits Basket". The kid that was "it" was a boy who had to give a name of a fruit to each of the students. When he reached her, he said, "Tohru, you're an onigiri!" The students laughed at her, but she just shrugged and smiled, acting as if she was okay with it.

The students had to call each of the fruits, but because she was an onigiri, no one called her, they just ignored her. There was no fruits basket that she could fit into, and the others wouldn't have let her even if she begged. They were so small but so bad, too. They made her an outcast, and she didn't even do anything wrong to them.

Tohru then shook her head, as if trying to get those thoughts out of her mind, and hummed even louder, as if that would help. She was so loud that she didn't notice when some boys from her school started following her.

Then one of them shouted, "Get the onigiri!" The others shouted as well and started chasing her.

Tohru gasped in shock at the sudden chase that had taken place and started to run, too. That was a bit hard for her. She was usually clumsy, even at her best. So when the boys started grabbing rocks on the ground and throwing them at her, she couldn't help it and stumbled, nearly tripping a few times.

Sooner or later, the boys stopped, but that didn't mean Tohru was going to stop, too. She was too scared of getting caught by them that she kept running and running until she was lost and out of breath. She took a few more steps to hide in a small, dark alley, and collapsed on the ground, where she sobbed harder than she ever had before. She got so tired she felt asleep right there.

When it was morning and she woke up, she didn't know where she was at first. Then, when she realized where she was and what had happened the day before, she started crying all over again.

**Yuki Finds Tohru**

Yuki was still laughing as he ran around the streets. He had never felt this way before. So carefree, not needing to listen to Akito's harsh lies, not having to even think of the cruelty that he had dealt with. He could just run without anyone stopping him.

In fact, he was trying to push himself, just to see how fast he could be. He simply weaved between the buildings that were quite close to each other. He barely saw anything that he passed. The only thing that caught his attention was when he saw something shiny in one of the many alleyways that he passed. He almost stopped to see if it what it was, but he kept going on ahead.

He made a sharp turn and ended up in another alley that led to a larger street. He was right about to jump onto the sidewalk when he saw them.

There were two policemen talking to a lady. The men looked like they were asking some questions. They both looked grim and a bit frustrated. But not as much as the lady. She looked young and pretty, but that wasn't what caught Yuki's attention. He also noticed that she had the same hair color as the cat, Kyo.

At first Yuki felt scared. _Oh no! _he thought. _Please, oh _please _don't be looking for me! _He knew that if Akito wanted to, he would have people searching for his lost "playmate".

He wanted to hear what they were saying. So, while hiding in the shadows between the two buildings, he strained his ears to try and catch the conversation. It was the lady who was talking now.

"…just have to find her, officers! She's my pride and joy! My treasure! Oh, I should've called yesterday, but I thought she was just at a friend's house or something!" She turned away in distress.

One of the policemen spoke. "Calm down, Miss Honda. We're going to do everything we can to find your daughter. Now, will you tell us again how she looks like?"

Miss Honda seemed to snap. She quickly spun around with such a furious expression that he couldn't blame the men when they took a couple steps back.

She then shrieked, "I _SAID _SHE'S A CUTE GIRL WITH CUTE BAUBLES IN HER HAIR WEARING CUTE CLOTHES AND HAS A CUTE FACE! WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?" She was breathing hard when she finished her shriek.

The other man spoke. "M-ma'am, you _really _need to calm-"

Miss Honda suddenly became hostile. She held up her fists menacingly and spoke in a deadly calm voice. "You want me to calm down when my baby is out there, lonely and lost? How _**dare **_you!"

The police practically jumped away from her. Even Yuki got scared enough to hide more into the shadows, shuddering as he did so. "That lady's scary!" he said to himself out loud, as if he couldn't really believe what he saw.

Then he gasped. "Baubles…" he whispered. That's what he saw back in one of the alleys. The shiny object he spotted…It was a bauble. He was going so fast and felt so happy that he didn't even notice that there was a girl that came with the little hair accessory!

_I know! _He thought. _I'll just go back and look for her again. Yeah! Then I can go back to the policemen and tell them where I found her daughter! Maybe then the lady could be a bit nicer…_He grinned at the thought. He was about to help somebody, and he never did that before.

He started running back to try and remember where he saw the shiny thing. But after running through the same alleys over and over again, he practically memorized the whole place.

Then, just when he was about to give up, he heard it. It was a little sad sound. He knew it was far away, from the way that he heard it, but the area was so quiet that he could hear it from where he stood. It sounded so familiar to Yuki, but not because he heard it from someone else. He knew what it was because he had done it millions of times before, especially after his "lessons" with Akito.

Someone was crying.

He followed the sound, straining his ears harder to make sure he was going in the right direction. He walked faster when the crying got louder.

Then he found her.

She was sitting at the far back of one of the alleys. She was wearing nice clothes and those little baubles in her hair. At first, her hands were covering her face. When she heard Yuki's heavy breathing from running so long, she looked up. Her mother was right. She was quite cute, even with little tears streaming down her face and her face puffy and red from crying. Then her face got redder when she saw him. She was embarrassed that someone had found her like that.

For some reason, he remembered something one of the servants at the Sohma house had said to another. "You know, we can hate Ren all we want for what she did with the last master, but you have to admit, she's pretty enough to be a Sohma!" That's how Yuki suddenly felt when he saw her face. She was cute enough to be a Sohma.

After a few seconds they just stared at each other, as if one was waiting for the other to move or talk first. Then Yuki remembered what he was supposed to do. He took a step back and looked around where the girl was and tried to memorize the place so he can correctly guide the policemen here, instead of getting lost like he had earlier.

He started running again, but he barely felt tired now, not when he knew he was going to do the right thing. However, he started feeling a bit panicked when he heard someone following him.

He also remembered what the other servant said to the first. "Never mind her! I feel sorry for the children. I bet it is part of the curse to look so cute! I wouldn't blame anyone if they took one of the small ones right off the streets!" Yuki's heart started to beat fast and loud as he turned his head back to look at his follower. His mouth dropped at the sight of his pursuer.

It was the little girl, Miss Honda's daughter. She was pushing herself to go faster, trying to keep up with him. "Please wait!" she cried out in a little cute voice. "Please help me! I wanna go home!"

Yuki went faster was well. He really wanted to help her, but to have a girl get that close to him—

"Aaaahh!" the girl yelled. He slowed down to face back at her. The girl had tripped on a rock and fell. Even though it was a serious moment, he couldn't help but sweat-drop and think, _But it's such a small rock…_He stopped thinking when she looked up at him.

She was staring at him with such pleading eyes, it almost hurt him. In them were new tears, still forming before they fall. She looked so helpless that he had to stop. He waited for her to wipe her eyes and look up. When she did, she looked shocked, as if she couldn't believe he was waiting for her.

That's when it hit him. _She needs me. Me! Someone actually needs me. Her life is in my hands…_He decided that he would keep running until he reached her house, knowing that she would still follow him. He smiled encouragingly at the girl, and ran off again, smiling wider as he heard the following footsteps. The chase began once more. _Just look at me, Akito! _He thought proudly. _Not so useless now, am I? _

Whenever she started to slow down and lose sight of him, he would stop and wait for her until she caught up again. She didn't look scared anymore, just tired and a little curious, obviously thinking why they haven't stopped yet. Then Yuki noticed that he was getting a bit out of breath, too, and if he became really tired, he could just turn into the rat right in front of her! So he sped up, feeling a bit sorry for the girl when she groaned loudly.

A few minutes later, they were right in front of her place. They hadn't noticed how long the run had taken; it was already quite dark. Yuki finally stopped, and when he did, she stopped altogether as well. She was breathing heavily and was pink in the face, not from crying, but from tiredness. In fact, she was so tired, she didn't even notice that she was already home.

He grinned at her. _She's done such a good job…she deserves something. Something like…what? _He looked around, as if he could find something right off the sidewalk. As he did, a gust of wind nearly blew off his hat. He took it off and stared at it. _Well…it's not exactly my hat, so…_Suddenly he felt it. He was getting too tired. So he went over to the girl and put the hat on her hand.

She looked up at him. She blushed when he smiled down at her. Then she seemed to notice something behind him. It was her mother, looking the opposite direction and not noticing her daughter a few meters behind her. The little girl then ran faster than when she ran with him, screaming, "MAMA! _MAMA!" _

Yuki saw the hat fly down since she was running against the wind, but that was it. He was breathing heavily now, so he ran to the place where he had first watched Miss Honda earlier, then —

_POOF!_

Blue, glittering smoke appeared where he was hiding, and when it cleared, the only thing left was a cute little gray rat, breathing just as heavily as he had when he was human. It was Yuki.

Slowly, he looked around to see where the mother and daughter were. They were still outside, embracing each other hard with tears of happiness running down their faces. "Oh! Oh!" Miss Honda cried out joyfully. "Tohru! Oh, _Tohru! _My treasure! My baby!" She swung Tohru around as she held her.

"M-mama! C-can't breathe!" Tohru gasped out, struggling to loosen herself a bit. The mother laughed and loosened up but still held on to Tohru.

Yuki smiled weakly. "That's nice…" he said aloud to himself. Then, for just a split second, he was envious. He wished that his mother would hug him as tight as the woman was doing to her daughter, instead of smacking him across his face just because he called out and ran to her.

But that second was gone, and the tiredness had overcome the poor little rat, and he slowly closed his eyes, just to rest for a while.

**Tohru and Kyoko Reunited**

Tohru couldn't say anything. She was finally back with her mother. She was home. She didn't have to worry about those boys from school chasing her at the moment. When she was with mama, she was absolutely safe.

She wiped away her tears with her right hand, her left hand being stuck to her side in her mom's embrace. "Mama…?" she started to say.

"What is it, sweetie?" she said, suddenly serious. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you? Tohru, did somebody do something to you?" She picked up her daughter and turned her around, as if making sure she was in perfect condition.

"No, no! It's just…"

"What?"

"I…I'm a little bit hungry…" she admitted, turning pink with embarrassment. Then, as if on cue, there was a loud rumbling sound coming from the little girl's stomach, making her turn even pinker.

Kyoko laughed. "Okay! Let's go inside and make dinner, alright?" Tohru nodded, and then she was put down and walked beside her mom.

Just as they reached the front door, Tohru gasped. "Wait mama!" she cried out. She turned around to run back to where they were embracing just seconds earlier.

It was also where the mysterious boy was standing.

"I forgot to thank…" she looked around. There was no one in sight. "…the nice…boy…" She tilted her head to one side. _Where did he go? _she wondered. She was so puzzled that she didn't notice her mom standing beside her.

"What boy?" she asked.

"The one that helped me come home." She turned around, suddenly looking excited. "Oh, mama! He was so nice! I was crying in the alley and he found me right there! He just stared at me and suddenly ran off…I was so scared that I just followed him and-"

"Tohru," her mom said in a stern voice, "it's not good to follow strangers. You know that!"

"I know, mama. But I could just tell that he was good. When I was following him, he always stopped until I caught up with him…and then he brought me back here!" She looked around once more, frowning. "I didn't even say thank you…"

"Well honey, maybe he just wasn't there. I didn't see anyone with you."

"But he was! He had to be!" Tohru was so confused. _Was he really there? Did I just imagine him? _That's when she began feeling weird. She started feeling dizzy and her eyes got blurry. A second later, she collapsed into her mother's arms.

"Waaaaahhh! Tohru! You collapsed!" Kyoko cried out. She quickly carried her daughter into the house. Right before she did, she turned around and saw something. It was a hat. _I'll pick it up later, _she thought hurriedly. _It probably belonged to that boy Tohru was talking about….but…_ "Aaaahh! Tooooohruuuuuu!" she cried out again.

After putting Tohru in bed, she went outside again and picked up the hat. Then she stood there on the sidewalk, waiting for Kyo to come back. "Poor kid," she said aloud to herself. "He's probably still out there looking…" She decided to wait until he came back, just to make sure he was really okay and safe.

**Kyo and Kyoko's Last Conversation**

Kyo was still running around, even when it was already dark. He couldn't give up on looking for Tohru. He promised Kyoko he would find and protect her. He just had to keep his promise.

But when it became too dark and he could barely see if it were not for the street lights, he knew it was time to stop and started walking to Kyoko's place. He felt so bad. After making such a serious promise, how could he go back and face her without Tohru?

When he reached his destination, he was confused at first. Kyoko was standing outside like she had earlier, but she no longer had tears in her eyes or looked distraught. In fact, she looked absolutely joyful. _I wonder what happened, _he thought. Then he looked more down and saw something in her hands that made his come to a complete stop with such an angry expression.

That's when Kyoko saw him. She started walking towards him. "Aah! Jari! She came back! Tohru came back! She's safe!" When she was close enough to see the expression on his face, she stopped, too. Kyo was still staring at the hat.

Barely a whisper, he said, "That hat…"

"Huh?"

"Where did you get that hat?" His voice became harsher.

Kyoko was taken aback. "Oh, well, I think it's from Tohru's savior. She said that a strange boy came to her and brought her back home. I guess this hat is all that's left of him." She tilted her head to one side, curious. "Why? Do you know who owns this hat?"

The boy put his head down, too angry to speak to her directly. "That guy…that guy is the _worst _person in the world! He's a bad guy!" he shouted.

"…Why do you hate him so much?" she asked quietly.

"'Cuz he's the bad guy! He's despicable! He's the reason everything bad has happened to me!"

"But you don't really know him personally, do you?"

"It wouldn't matter! He's still despicable! I wish he was _dead!" _He was trembling with anger at this point.

Kyoko looked down at him for while, and then she knelt down in front of him. She tried to make him face her that way, but he just looked away. "Do you really feel that way?" she asked in that quiet, calm voice of hers. "Do you really hate him, with all your heart? Do you really wish he was dead? But if he was, he wouldn't have found Tohru-"

"But _I _could have!" he interrupted. "_I _could've found her! I was _supposed _to find her! I knew her first…" _I knew her first. ME! I should've found her! Why does that stinkin' rat _always_ have to be first!_

Kyoko just smiled warmly. "You shouldn't hate a person just for something like that. I mean, think about it." She lifted his face with her hand so they could look at each other's eyes. "Would you really be happy if he wasn't here?"

Kyo was speechless. A big part of him was shouting, _Of course I hate him! He's the damn rat! I'm the cat! We were _born _to hate each other! _But another part was saying, _No, I don't really…Kyoko's right…_

He became even angrier. He pushed the young woman away and stood up. "Sh-Shut up! You don't know anything! What gives you the right to tell me that! I…I wish you were DEAD!" And with that, he turned away and ran.

But then he heard, "Hey, Jari!" He couldn't help but turn his head and look.

There was Kyoko, standing up. She held the hat with one hand, but with the other, she was waving. Smiling and waving. "Thanks, Jari! Bye!" Kyo flushed for some reason and continued to run on, thinking that this was the last time that he would see the strange Kyoko Honda.

…_**..**_

_**OH, HE WAS SO UNFORTUNATELY WRONG.**_

…_**..**_

**Kyo and Kyoko Reunites for Final Encounter**

Kyo Sohma is now 16 years old. The sidewalk he was walking on was quite full and the streets were busy. He had just skipped school again. _I wonder what Shishou will do to me this time, _he thought. Then he sighed. He stopped walking with the other people around him as they waited to cross the street. He made sure to stay away from any girls or women. _I can't have anything happen to me right now, especially in the middle of a crowd!_

He looked up to see if the sign had changed to green when he saw another color. It was so familiar, especially since he saw it every day when he looked as his own hair in the mirror. _Orange hair…but who would actually dye it on pur- _He became shocked. _No way…!_

It was Kyoko Honda.

At first, he didn't really recognize her. She had cut her hair way shorter than it was before. But then he tried to think of anyone else who would color their hair to such a ridiculous shade of orange, and only one person could come to his mind.

Kyoko seemed to have felt him staring at her because she suddenly turned around. Her eyes widened when she saw him and her mouth dropped, but Kyo suddenly became still and couldn't see her anymore.

He was now looking far back behind her. More specifically, he was looking at the speeding car behind her. The driver was swerving violently, but there were no cars on the other lanes, so there was no one to honk at the crazy driver.

But Kyo realized that he car was speeding right at Kyoko. He became panic and couldn't even move or speak…and began screaming in his head.

_NO! I gotta save her! But…._He was practically fighting with himself. _…The only way I could save her right now is by holding her tight and pull her away from the car's path. But if I do that, I'll turn into the car and the Sohma family's secret will be exposed! And in front of hundreds of people too! _The car was so close now. Kyoko didn't notice it because she was still in shock of seeing her old friend. She was finally about to say something to him.

_I…..WHAT DO I DO? _

…It was too late.

It happened too fast for Kyo, and he couldn't take in the whole moment. He saw the car collide with Kyoko, saw her practically fly a couple meters away, and heard the impact of her and the car and her bones breaking. It was too much for him.

A few seconds later, an even larger crowd had formed around the accident. Kyo, still in a daze, slowly walked towards the woman who he could've saved. When he reached her, he felt so…at that moment, he couldn't put his feelings into words. It was too much.

Kyoko was still barely breathing, if you could call it that. She was mostly gasping for breaths and trying to see through the tears that were forming in her eyes. Then those eyes finally found the person she was searching for…Kyo.

He couldn't move when her eyes met his. He almost forgot to breathe. He was feeling so much at once that he could barely register his own thoughts.

Kyoko started to speak to him. "I…I'll never…..forgive….you…" She passed out before she could say more.

That was all it took to break Kyo to pieces. He ran away in terror, away from the accident, away from the dying woman who he could've saved, who just said she would never forgive him…

He didn't want to think, to remember. All he wanted to do was get away from there. It was just too much to take in at once. A woman, his friend, got hurt, maybe killed…and it was his entire fault.

He finally reached his house. He rushed through the door, passing Shishou, who started to speak to him, but couldn't since Kyo kept on going. Suddenly, everything hit him all at once, harder than before. He was in the kitchen now, and he pulled up a chair and flopped down, putting his head down on the table.

He heard Shishou walk in and stand opposite of him. After a couple of minutes of silence, the older man finally said, "You want to talk about it, Kyo?" Kyo didn't do anything. He didn't want to do anything. He just wanted to forget.

Shishou sighed and it was quiet again for a few more minutes. Then he said, "You know, I'm going away to the mountains for extra training, just for a couple of months. You could follow if you want. Take a break from school and stuff, you know?"

Kyo finally looked up. He knew what Shishou was doing. Shishou was the kind of man who always knew what to do, even if he didn't know want happened, and right now he knew that Kyo had to get away, to forget. Training always did that to him…

After a while, Kyo finally answered. "…Yeah," he muttered, his voice sounding unnaturally dead. "Yeah, I…I really need that."


End file.
